Local Elections : 14% Turnout Due in Vote on 11 Issues and 115 Candidates

Punch a vote card. Ka-pop.

For 115 candidates and 11 measures on Tuesday’s election ballot in Orange County, that almost silent act--expected to be performed by only 14% of the 840,754 eligible voters--will decide issues such as the direct election of mayors, slow-growth policies, water bonds and whether to override the Gann limit on government spending.

The turnout in Tuesday’s school board, city council and special district elections is expected to be up two percentage points over the 12% mark posted in a similar election two years ago, according to Orange County Registrar of Voters Donald F. Tanney.

The polls open Tuesday at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

840,754 Eligible to Vote

Although only eight of the county’s 26 cities have elections Tuesday, 840,754 or 79.3% of the the county’s 1,059,631 registered voters will be eligible to decide the fate of 115 candidates and 11 ballot measures, including:

- Seventy-seven contenders for 33 school board offices.

- Five hopefuls seeking two board seats in special service districts.

- Eight candidates running for five water district posts.

- Eight contenders for mayor of Garden Grove.

- Twelve contestants seeking five council seats in the proposed city of Mission Viejo.

- Eleven ballot measures--including the proposed direct election of Irvine’s mayor--in six cities, three unincorporated areas and one special service district.

The results of the balloting could be telling about residents’ views on local government.

In Irvine, several real estate and land developers have contributed more than $10,000 to defeat Measure E, the proposal to directly elect the city’s mayor. Larry Agran, the current mayor, is the measure’s strongest supporter.

In Buena Park, the future path of development is a key issue as five candidates vie for two council seats. Three challengers facing two incumbents have criticized the city’s recent building moratorium and corridor development plan for a segment of Beach Boulevard.

Elsewhere in Central Orange County, eight candidates are competing for Garden Grove’s mayor’s post, including three City Council members. In Tustin, voters will either annex or reject a 60-acre, 182-home neighborhood coveted by forces seeking to form a new municipality north of the present city. In Anaheim, residents will vote on a proposed $14-million bond issue to pay for modernization of the city’s water works.

Also, there are school board races in the Orange and Santa Ana unified and Westminster Elementary school districts.

In Orange Unified, a still unfolding scandal involving alleged contract bid rigging could trigger a voter backlash, although the two incumbent board members seeking reelection have been exonerated by the district attorney’s office.

In South Orange County, proposed cityhood for Mission Viejo dominates the ballot, along with council races there and an advisory vote on incorporation for residents of 13 coastal communities. Voters in those communities can indicate whether they want their areas to be part of a Laguna Niguel cityhood effort or a competing bid by Dana Point-Capistrano Beach. Trustees will be chosen in the Laguna Beach and Saddleback Valley Unified School districts.

Laguna School Race

An unusual situation developed in the Laguna school race, where Charlene Ragatz, ousted in a Sept. 22 recall election, is still listed on the ballot as an incumbent. On Sunday, Ragatz backed away Sunday from earlier statements that she would not serve if elected. She said she has reconsidered because of recent board actions and a dispute with the recently reconstituted board over whether it’s first meeting received legally required, advance public notice.

Meanwhile, there are special district races in the Santa Margarita Water District, which serves the eastern side of Mission Viejo, Coto de Caza and Rancho Santa Margarita, and the Los Alisos Water District, which serves El Toro. In Three Arch Bay, voters will decide whether the local service district should sell $1.8 million in bonds and levy a special tax to pay for storm drains.

In North Orange County, Cypress voters are confronted with Measure D, the Cypress Greenbelt Preservation and Open Space Initiative, which would put to a public vote any proposed development on land already zoned for public or semi-public use in the city. The measure is the outgrowth of a dispute over the closing of a Cypress golf course sought for development by Hollywood Park Realty. In Stanton, voters will be asked to approve a special property tax of $24 per dwelling unit for police services.

School Board Races

School board races are on the ballot in the Anaheim Union High School, Anaheim City School, Fullerton School and Yorba Linda School districts.

In Coastal Orange County, besides the controversial Irvine election, Costa Mesa residents will choose between receiving an average property tax credit of $66 or allowing the city to keep $2.1 million for street improvements in the first bid by an Orange County city to override its Gann spending limit.

Also, there are school board races in Huntington Beach and Irvine, and Newport Beach voters will decide whether residents of the 72-home Beacon Bay colony--who live on city-owned tidelands--can double the length of their 25-year leases, making it easier to obtain home-improvement loans.

One seat is being contested in the Coast Community College District, which serves the Newport Beach-Costa Mesa-Huntington Beach area.